Sounds Like a Job for Perl

In which I write a continuous build system for bagpipe music using Perl and a Makefile. The problem: the band has sheet music that everyone is supposed to memorize, the membership is geographically dispersed and not everyone can make it to every practice, and during practices and workshops and after competitions the music can getContinue reading “Sounds Like a Job for Perl”

It Could Be Better

A long time ago, my housemate (who is one of the only people who reads this – Hi, Kurt!) had this great explanation for why his homework wouldn’t compile: “It was perfect, so I fixed it.” Man, that so describes every programmer I’ve ever worked with. (Incidentally and orthogonal to the point of this post,Continue reading “It Could Be Better”

Nonrandom Thoughts on a Holiday Afternoon

Oh, lots of things going through my head. No real coherence to speak of, though. Let’s see, a useful life lesson from Victor / Victoria happy outcome from reading the release notes not everything in the 80s sucked (X still makes me happy) (but most of the 80s sucked) Victor / Victoria Before I everContinue reading “Nonrandom Thoughts on a Holiday Afternoon”

Minor Lesson Today

I know that a lot of people use BWW for writing bagpipe music. But I’m cheap, and I use a Mac, and I tried the demo versions of the music notation software my teacher and bandmates use and I hate them (the programs). Iconoclast that I am, I have chosen to transcribe all my musicContinue reading “Minor Lesson Today”

If I Were Better, I’d Be Good

As I put my pipes away from this morning’s practice, feeling wrung-out and self-critical, I panted, “Well, if I didn’t suck I’d be pretty good!” I thought about all the evenings when the Badb had been skimming through her viola practice, not really paying attention to her playing just in a rush to get itContinue reading “If I Were Better, I’d Be Good”